April 6, 2025, Message by P. Kevin Clancey
Transcribed by Beluga AI.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. Great is your faithfulness, O God. How good is he? Amen.
He is better to you than you know. And you will discover that one day. We’ll all discover it one day. But I have got great news for you. The God of the universe, the King of all creation, the Lawgiver, the Savior, your Heavenly Father, loves you deeply and passionately, and that is eternal, and it’s pointed right at you tonight. So, dear ones, fear not. Fear not. All right?
You got pains in your body. Fear not. you’re growing old. The only alternative is to die young. Fear not. You got struggles. Fear not. Fear not. God wins, and we win with him. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
So have some hope. All right. Anybody ever have this experience? you’re a Christian and you’ve been a Christian, but you still struggle with sin? Anybody struggle with sin as a Christian? Okay, well, I’m just here tonight and I want to share the message that that means you’re not really saved and you’re lost.
No, I’m going to share tonight from Romans 7 why that is true and why we experience this frustration.
Anybody? Yeah, I should ask the second question. Anybody frustrated by that fact? I’ve been at this 50 years, and it’s like, why aren’t I better at this? Why aren’t I better at this?
Paul tells us in Romans 7. So we’re going to read Romans 7. But it just reminded me of, you know, somebody asked me one time, they said, Kevin, are you a gossip?
And I said, of course not, but do you want to know who is? It’s like, we know the right thing, but we can’t do it.
So Romans 7. Paul says this:
1 Since I am speaking to those who know the law, brothers and sisters, don’t you know that the law rules over someone as long as he lives? 2 For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband. 3 So then, if she is married to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she is married to another man, she is not an adulteress. 4 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another. You belong to him who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions aroused through the law were working in us to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law. 7 What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! But I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet. 8 And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life again 10 and I died. The commandment that was meant for life resulted in death for me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. 13 Therefore, did what is good become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave under sin. 15 For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good.17 So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. 19 For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me. 21 So I discover this law: When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me. 22 For in my inner self I delight in God’s law, 23 but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin. (Romans 7:1-25, CSB)
And so we’ve all been there. But what I want to point out tonight, and hopefully you’re getting this as we’re going through Romans.
And just as you read through the New Testament, it is essential that you understand the significance of what Paul is dealing with through his own conversion and the conversion of the Gentiles and the apparent, not large, conversion of the Jews.
He’s trying to come to grips with and explain how it is what’s going on now in God’s timetable that is markedly different and that has changed everything.
And so he’s talking to Jews and he says, you have the law. And everything he says here, he’s already said previously in Romans for the next couple of chapters.
Chapter seven and chapter eight is kind of a repetition of things, but he elaborates on things that he’s already said. And basically he’s saying, listen, we were under this old covenant, but it’s dead now, and we are free to marry a new partner.
And that partner is Christ and the Spirit that he gives us. And so you’re not cheating on your Jewishness, you’re not cheating on three fourths of the Bible by saying, that was all there to instruct us, that was all there to lead us, that was all there to teach us.
But now it’s dead. The old covenant is gone. We don’t have to practice the old covenant.
We had a potluck in Bremerton today after church. I brought bacon. Roger Cooper brought European bacon, you know, the thick kind of British bacon and ham. And as I was going through the line, my bacon was no longer there. I get through the line late, you know, everybody else gets there before me, and bacon goes the quickest.
Okay, this is what my wife said one time, all right? I just like to tease her when she’s not here.
Once, one Sunday, I told her, well, I’m going to make bacon for the potluck. And she says, oh, that’ll just go instantly. Everybody will eat it. I’m thinking, well, isn’t that the point? You know, you bring food.
She says, let me bring those little arum sandwiches, you know, those little rolled up sandwiches they sell for women’s teas and stuff like that. And I said, we’re just going to end up taking half of those home. She goes, no, people like those. I don’t like to gloat. But I was right.
And it’s been a constant now thing with me, a constant tease. It’s like, hey, I don’t want to bring bacon. People might eat it. And sure enough, I got there and all my bacon was gone. But there’s still a little Rogers bacon left.
So I got my pork and I gave thanks that the law is dead. I can eat bacon. Even dear ones, I’ll tell you, even we are not obligated under the Ten Commandments. Now we are obligated to love God and love our neighbor. And guess what encapsulates that a lot? The Ten Commandments. But.
But what I’m saying is that’s no longer the covenant we’re living under.
When you’re married, we all were married. And hopefully in your marriage ceremonies when you were married, it said this: till death do you part. Divorce is a way to end marriage, but is only allowed in the Bible on grounds of adultery and abandonment. And God has mercy on divorced people.
I’m not picking on divorce or divorced people, trust me. But I’m simply saying that marriage is a covenant that you are not free from until one of the partners dies.
My wife and I have said for 44 years, almost 44 years, divorce is not an option. I think Billy Graham’s wife, Ruth Graham, said divorce is not an option till death do us part. So murder is still on the table. It’s not an option. But if the person dies, the other person then is absolutely free to remarry.
I think I’ve told you this joke before, but it was a dream, you know, I had about Ats and Aiko, let’s say Ats and Aiko.
And you know, sadly, Aiko, this was really said. You died, and you went to heaven, and you got there. And St. Peter said, hey, you can come to heaven, but I know it’s by grace. But we do have a simple test here just to see. You have to spell a word. And I go, well, I’m pretty smart. I can spell. What word do I have to spell? And she says, lord. And Peter says, lord. She goes, oh, L O R D. And then Ats goes on and lives.
But he happened as he lived, as Aiko was sick, he didn’t cheat on anything. But there was this cute little hospice nurse that was taking care of her, and they kind of hit it off. Then after Aiko died, they kind of really hit it off. She was really cute, she was young and pretty, and found out she was independently wealthy. She was only a hospice nurse out of the goodness of her heart. So they traveled the world together.
And all of Ats’ dreams about where he wanted to travel and what he wanted to do, he did on this girl’s dime. They had a wonderful time, and it was just exciting and fun. And, you know, bless his heart. He just had, you know. You wanted him to be happy. Well, he was so happy. Just had a great time.
And then he dies. He gets to heaven, and St. Peter greets him, but Iko’s there, too. They say, hey, Atz, welcome to heaven. And he goes, great. And.
And Aiko says, how was your life after? You know, I’ve been so happy up here, I didn’t pay attention. And he tells her the story. He says, oh, yeah, remember that cute little gal that was taking care of you? Yeah, I remember her. Well, we just hit it off. He tells her the whole story.
We traveled the world, and she had all sorts of money, and we just had so much fun. I had a great time. But hey, now I’m here. Isn’t this great? And Peter and Aiko go, yeah.
And Peter says, well, you know, you do have to spell a word, though, before you get in. And Ats goes, what’s that word? Before Peter could speak, Aiko said, Czechoslovakia.
You’re free to remarry. Not that that scenario will ever play out, but, you know, you’re free to remarry. You know, I always, you know, I tell Jill, hey, if I’m gone, just find yourself a rich man next time, you know, and she’s like, I’m not going to get remarried. I say the same thing. And it’s kind of like.
I mean, we really love each other. It’s kind of like it’s not even a compliment. I don’t want to go through this again. I don’t want to train another one. I’m not going to get married. All right? So when one person dies, whether they want to or not, the other person at least is free to remarry. We were married to the law. Paul says we were married to the old covenant. And even those of us who didn’t grow up under the old covenant, we were married to some system of law.
We were married to some system of right and wrong, some system that told us what to do and how to behave. But now we are married to Christ by grace through faith. The old partner is dead. We are free to remarry.
Now, is the old partner bad? Is the law bad or good? Because he talks about, in Romans 6 and Romans 7, he talks about how the law actually entices him to sin. And we’ll get to that in a minute. But he says that the law is good, it came from God.
And he says it reveals sin. And it does. It does. We all have original sin, and we all act out of that original sin. But really, I think children in their rebellion are acting kind of naturally out of that original sin.
But there comes a point in a child’s life where they really understand. My parents said, don’t do this, and I’m doing it anyway. I think a lot of times 2-year-old defiance, 3-year-old defiance is just kind of original sin. But it’s not like a recognized defiance.
They’re very self-conscious of themselves, and they’re just trying to figure out what are the boundaries here. How much can I get what I want from these big people, and how much authority?
And so kids put that to the test. And, parents, I am telling you, well, you know, Isaiah, you’re the only one here who might go through that someday. Pass that test, defeat the two-year-old. You must defeat them. They must be, they cannot get their way. When you draw a line in the sand, you got to win.
Because if you don’t win at 2, the fight’s going to be a lot harder at 12. So I’m just saying that. But then there comes a time where there’s kind of a true defiance. And what do I mean by that? They now know they’ve gone through the terrible twos and the terrorist threes. And they now know mom and dad represent the law. And then they defy it. Why not? Because they’re testing the boundaries, but they just want to defy it. you’re not going to tell me what to do.
I remember one time, my son, about 5 years old now don’t call CPS when I tell you this story but my son, he’s about 5 years old, and he took something from his sisters.
I’m taking this from my sisters. And of course, the sisters screamed in disbelief. We’re being tortured to death. You took my toy.
So I interceded and found out he was the guilty party. He was the one that the sisters were overreacting, but he was the one who took the toy. I said, you got to give that back.
And basically, there was something we were going to do later that was fun that he wanted to do. I said, listen, you got to give that back to your sister, or we’re not going to go wherever. We’re not going to do what you want to do.
He said, no. I said, look, we’re not going to do it. you’re losing this privilege if you don’t give that back to your sister. No, I’m not giving it back. So I took it from him and gave it back.
And now the fit switched from the sisters throwing a fit to him throwing a fit. And so he’s throwing a fit. Oh, no, here was the thing. He said, okay, now that my sister has that, can we do what I wanted to do? And I said, no, you didn’t give it back. I took it from you. That’s it. You lost that.
So now he’s throwing a fit. So I take him to his bedroom. Time out, you know, go in your bedroom. And I say, you have to stay in here until you calm down.
And the little kid, I’m gonna hit you. And I said, don’t call CPS. This is how we parented back in the day, alright? I said, if you hit me, I’ll hit you harder.
And he took the dare. His little hand came down and he didn’t see it coming. As his hand was in motion, my hand came from over here and it was like, ding, pow. I hit him harder.
And then he said this. That didn’t hurt. I thought, all right, baby, it’s on. You keep drawing lines in the sand, man.
So I just looked at him. This is when I realized my son was a bright boy and he had a future.
I said, do you want one that does? No, that’s a good call. We’re both happy that you said that. Believe me, I’m happy that you said that. And he was happy that he said that.
But at that point, he wasn’t just acting out of this kind of impulse to original sin. He was, I’m going to do what I want to do and I’m going to challenge your authority.
And we’re going to see where this ends. The law produces. It shows us what sin is. Paul says, I wouldn’t have known what thou shall not covet means until you said, don’t covet. I wouldn’t have known it was wrong.
And then the law condemns us. It tells us we were wrong. And the New Testament says it serves, therefore, as a teacher. If you’re smart, then you repent.
You know you’re on the wrong side of God, but it actually produces temptation into sin and creates more sin because of that original sin, that brokenness that is in us.
There’s something about. You know, it’s like, don’t think about pink elephants. Whatever you’re doing right now, stop thinking about pink elephants. Well, you know, you weren’t thinking about pink elephants till I said it. And now it’s like, dang it, they’re in my head. I got pink elephants in my head. You know, don’t covet.
Well, I wasn’t coveting until you said it, but now that you mention it, I would like this, and I would like that. And why does my neighbor have this, and I don’t have that?
You know, thou shalt not commit adultery. Well, you know, but she’s kind of cute. What are you thinking about her? Till you said, thou shalt not commit adultery.
And another one about. And Jill. Jill didn’t really say this. It’s just a joke. But, you know, she likes Denzel. I’m not saying she lusts after Denzel, but Denzel. This is her movie star, right?
She is, you know, likes Denzel. I don’t know if everybody’s got a movie star. Denzel’s her movie star. For those of you who are young, he’s an old African American actor. Really got a good smile, good wit, good actor.
So anyway, you know, the church was full one Sunday, and we were worshiping God. There’s a bunch of youth in the church. And, you know, I just turned to her and I said, in your wildest dreams, did you ever imagine this? And she said to me, honey, in my wildest dreams, you’re Denzel, okay? So don’t lust.
Oh, I wasn’t until you said that. Don’t get angry.
Oh, I’m thinking about all the people now. Hacked me off. There’s something. It’s not the law, but Paul says it’s not the law’s fault. It’s sin’s fault. If we didn’t have sin and the law said, do not covet, our response wouldn’t be to covet. Our response would be, oh, yeah, that makes sense. Coveting. Stupid. Yeah, I won’t covet. Good call.
See, but there’s something in the brokenness in our sinful condition that actually, the law then actually entices actual sin.
Paul says, I was alive apart from the law. When there was no law, I was fine. But once the law came, there was actual sin. I rebelled against it. Knowingly, willingly, intentionally. I said, no. Not God’s way, but my way. And therefore there is condemnation for our sin.
Sin’s the problem, not the law. Sin leads to death. Not the law. But sin is so sinful that it takes the law and it twists the law and uses it for its advantage. That’s the argument Paul is making here. You follow? That’s what he’s saying.
And therefore, it creates in us this inner conflict. We have two sets of desires: the law of my mind, which agrees, thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt honor thy mother and father. We agree with the law. And then there are the members of my flesh that work against me: the law of my mind and the law of sin in my flesh.
Now, Paul says in Ephesians 2, while we were living apart from Christ, my mind. And another word for mind, dear ones, is soul.
Same word, same Greek word for mind and soul. My mind or my soul and my flesh were in agreement, living in rebellion to God. But when I came to Christ, what happened is I repented. Repent literally means what? I had a change of what? Change of mind.
My direction changed, my soul changed, my intention changed. But when we repented, we have a change of mind. But guess what? We’re still living in the same body. And we talked about this last week. What? Our brains, which are a part of our body. What? Our brain.
I’m going to distinguish between brain and mind. The brain is a physical part of your body. The mind is your consciousness, your soul, your life before humans and God.
But the brain and the body work together in marvelous ways. All right. Brian doesn’t fall down on his bike every time he goes out for a ride. That’s a good thing. When he first started riding a bike, I bet he fell down a lot. Skinned his knees, his elbows. But now he goes out and rides miles. Miles. He doesn’t fall. Why?
Because the brain and the body work together, the nervous systems. When Brian fell the first time, the nervous system sent a message to the brain and said, ow, that hurts.
Next time when you’re going to the right, turn the wheel just a little bit to the left and you won’t fall to the right. And so he did that the next time, but he overcompensated, turned to fall, fell to the left. And then the left side of his nervous system said to his brain, don’t do that again. Turn to the right.
So he turns to the right. And pretty soon, instead of making extreme jerky turns, this is really what riding a bike is. This is how people keep balance, is subconsciously the nervous system has sent enough messages to the brain. They’re making millions and millions of tiny adjustments as they ride their bike, and they don’t even think about it.
And that’s why you don’t forget how to ride a bike for the most part, because those tracks have been drawn in your brain. That’s why you don’t forget how to drive.
That’s why I don’t forget how to do a lot of stuff. And what happens when people have strokes, they forget how to do the normal stuff because those tracks have been blocked or damaged.
God created us that way because that’s how He wanted us to live. I mean, if you didn’t have that, you would live disastrous lives. You would have to wake up every morning, learn how to walk again, learn how to talk again. Everybody on the highway would be like a brand new driver. It would be disastrous.
So God created us that way, and everything about that creation is good. But when sin entered the picture, now our flesh that has been trained to do those kinds of things has also been trained to respond to stimulus in sinful ways.
We have trained ourselves, we’ve trained our bodies, muscle memory, neurological memory, to respond in sinful ways. And when we change our mind and we come to Christ, that changes. But our flesh doesn’t change.
Why is it people say, I’ll never be perfect until I die and meet Jesus? Well, why is that?
I’ll tell you why. You got rid of this. You got rid of all that bad programming. The minute you leave your body behind and your consciousness ascends to Christ, that’s why we get resurrection bodies. They won’t know sin. They won’t have those habits that create the conflict now, because we’ve come to Christ, our minds are in agreement with God, but our flesh still wants to respond in those old patterns.
Dear ones. Voila. That’s why it’s so hard. Now I want to give you some good news. Paul says it’s no longer me, but sin in me.
Why does he say that? He’s not abnegating responsibility. What he’s saying is, I’m on God’s team now. I’m on God’s side now. It’s just this rebellious old body that keeps acting out.
That’s why Christians talk about what? Mortifying the flesh or don’t rely on the floor. We are deeply bodily programmed to sin. And even when we come to Christ, our soul changes, our minds change. But that programming is still there.
Well, God sees what we have chosen. And therefore, as Romans 8:1 says, getting a little spoiler alert.
We’ll get back to this next week. The next couple of weeks, we’re going to talk about God’s answer to this problem. But the first part of his answer is, therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, (Romans 8:1, CSB)
He says, I get it. I know your struggle. But I know your heart or your soul or your mind wants to follow me. We’ll get there, son. We’ll get there, daughter. Don’t give up. Don’t quit.
Most people quit the faith not because they’ve been intellectually convinced out of it.
They quit the faith because of this problem. There is a besetting sin that they don’t seem to be able to get rid of. And they’re so exhausted with the fight and so frustrated and so defeated that they quit. And then they invent intellectual reasons to be an atheist. But the real reason is they didn’t want to give up smoking dope because they didn’t think they could, because they tried and failed. I love what Jesus says to the disciples on the night of his death. He’s looking for comfort. He’s looking for encouragement. He’s looking for help.
He takes his three closest disciples, Peter, James, and John, and he says, I’m going to go over there and I’m going to pray in the greatest travail of my life. Would you stay here and would you pray for me and with me?
Oh, yeah, Jesus, we’ll do it. We love you. We’ll do it. They fall asleep. Could you not stay awake? Pray for me. They fall asleep again. Finally, he comes back and he looks at them, and instead of saying, you worthless disciples, what does he say? This is actually very tender.
He says, I know the Spirit is willing. You wanted to. I know you love me, but your flesh is weak. your flesh is weak, all right.
When your small child spills milk, don’t beat him for that. That’s not rebellion. What is that? That’s being a child. You know, it may be frustrating to you. You have to clean it up. I hate spilling stuff. I hate it when I spill stuff.
Jesus knows that we’ve repented. He knows that we’ve turned to him. He know the very fact. Listen, I want to tell you this.
The very fact we have the conflict is good news. What does that mean? That we have the conflict. We’re no longer in agreement with sin. We’ve changed sides, at least in our mind and our desire. We’ve changed teams. And now what we call sanctification is the reprogramming, the relearning process, the flesh. We’re carnal. That doesn’t mean we’re carnal. Christians. We’re carnally minded Christians. No, it means we’re fleshly. We were sold to sin. And now what this battle means is that the battle is on. This tension makes us wretched. And wretched does not mean wicked.
Wretched means pitiable. God looks at this tension and has compassion. He has pity. the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Don’t worry, child. I’m with you for the long haul. I will not abandon you in this struggle. And one day you will be completely free.
And again, spoiler alert. Romans 8. He’s going to give us some amazing tools. In fact, I’ll tell you the three, and then we’ll get into them in detail. And I don’t mind doing spoiler alert because by next Sunday you’ll forget this. People generally do.
But number one, he gives us the tool.There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus.
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, (Romans 8:1, CSB)
Doesn’t that make you just want to sigh in relief? Thank God. Thank God he doesn’t beat me up.
Well, then why do I hear these voices when I sin? Oh, you call yourself a Christian? you’re such a loser. Why do you do that? Because there’s a devil and he talks to us or his minions do.
I’ve been at this for 50 years. I’ve been a Christian and I’ve repented of lots of sins and I’ve confessed lots of sins.
Now, before I repent and confess, I hear those voices. Loser, jerk. Worst. I mean, worst guy ever. That’s when I hear I’m the worst guy ever. That’s the devil tells me I’m the worst guy ever. I don’t know. Am I the worst guy ever?
Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Appreciate it. I asked that question once. You guys were really slow on the response. It was a little scary to me. But, you know, I don’t think I’m the worst guy ever. But, you know, I get called those names.
But every time I go to God, every time I go to my father and his son and say, hey, I did this, I’m sorry. I never hear a worst guy ever. I never hear loser. I never hear, oh, you’re not really a Christian, you’re not really saved, or you’re never going to get any better. What I hear is, all right, son, let’s go. Pick yourself up. Let’s go. Let’s keep going. Let’s go. you’re forgiven. Let’s go. Don’t dwell on it. That’s my experience.
When I repent and come to God, you see, I’ve really come to the conclusion. And you’ve heard me say this a hundred times, you cannot lose if you do not quit.
And that’s what we’re here for as a church, to encourage one another, because we all know it’s hard. And it does no good to come to church and pretend that we’re not all in this struggle.
How you doing? I’m blessed and highly favored. Well, you might be, but you’re struggling with something. I’m blessed and highly favored, but I’m struggling. I’m struggling. Tomorrow’s Monday.
I don’t experience good Mondays, people. I pour myself out, my whole heart and soul out twice on Sunday, and I really do. This is not fake, man. I believe this stuff, and I want to get it into you, and I love you and I care for you, and this is. This matters to me. And I pour it out.
And, man, Monday morning, I’m curled up in a fetal position. It’s like, you know, why. Why is my job so hard? I don’t dig hole. I don’t dig ditches.
Worst thing that ever happened to these hands was a paper cut, you know, turning a page in a book. Worst kind of pain. But there’s a spiritual warfare in this. And I know if I got struggles, you got struggles. You got days you want to quit. It’s hard.
I look at mothers raising small children. Man, where can I put, send my resignation paper? 24-hour need machines. No rest, no sleep. Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom. Man, I used to think, I’m so glad I’m not her kids walking through the house.
Mom, mom, mom says, why don’t you ask dad? Dad what? That’s why. What do you want? Quit bugging me. you’re. you’re nice. You look grumpy. Or worse yet, dad, Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Go ask your mother. Not good.
You know, it’s hard. It’s like, exhausting. Don’t quit. Don’t quit. We’re here for you. Jesus is here for you. The Holy Spirit is here for you. You struggle with depression, don’t quit. You struggle with anxiety, don’t quit. You got health issues, don’t quit. There is a conflict going on.
The very tension we have makes us wretched and pitiable for God. And he gives us his pity, and he gives us his help. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
And then the second thing he says is, I will give you my spirit. And then the battle’s on. That’s what we experience. The Holy Spirit is leading us heavenward, and Sin is leading us downward.
And the third thing he does, and he promises in Romans 8, is glorification. And glorification is the hope we have that.
That when this body is done, we’re free of it and we are glorified in its presence. Until I got this, it never made sense to me. It’s like, well, if I struggle with sin here, why won’t I struggle with sin there? And here’s the reason. I have committed myself to him, and in Him I am cleansed, alive, holy and pure. And the thing that’s holding me down is this old tent. But when this old tent is gone, I’m free. Now, you can’t kill yourself, all right? You can’t get out of it cheap.
You got to run the race to the end. That’s part of pleasing him, all right? But you will have a Gloria. And the good news is that freedom is forever. That freedom is forever. And so three things. There’s no condemnation. There’s the Spirit helps us gain victory in the fight. There are things I used to do that were sinful that I don’t do anymore, all right? But it’s interesting that the flesh is still there. Let me give you this. Let me give you an example. For six years of my life, I smoked marijuana.
Not every day, but almost every day. I was addicted. People say marijuana is not addictive. No, this isn’t addictive. You know, I remember having a lot of anxiety when I didn’t have any weed. I was addicted, and the Lord delivered me. And for 40 some years, I haven’t smoked marijuana, and I haven’t had a brownie or a gummy or nothing. And I’m groovy. I’m fine. Then pot became legal. All right? Now, haven’t done it. Haven’t gone into the pot shops. Never once I’ve walked into one. Not gonna. But here’s the interesting thing.
I know where they all are. Why the flesh is still alive. So I drive by a store and it says, pot. And my flesh goes, oh, there it is.
My wife asked me the other day. She said, my wife was going to the knickknack store, whatever it was, Hobby Lobby or Michaels or something like that. She goes, I’m going to go to Michael’s in Silverdale. I go, where’s Michael’s in Silverdale? She goes, you know where Michael’s is in Silverdale? It’s a really big store. You said, you’re in Silverdale all the time.
I said, no, I don’t know where Michael’s is in Silver. Doyle. If she would have told me it was right in front of one of the pot shops, I would say, oh, yeah, I know where that is now.
That doesn’t listen. That’s. That’s, like, normal. That’s how people are. When you’re addicted to something, all right, you’re just like, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. It’s just there because I got the flesh.
Glorification is the ultimate release from that. And so, ultimately, Christ sets us free from this tension. you’re not going to be in this battle forever.
In fact, in the light of eternity, it’s pretty short. So hang in there. Don’t quit.
It’s like my last example is this. For thousands and thousands of years, people were confined to the law of gravity. Gravity, let’s say, is like the law of sin. It’s sin. It holds us down. It slows us down. It makes us weary.
I was taking a walk the other day, and there was a hill, and I walked up the hill. And after I got done walking up the hill, my blood rate was faster and I was panting. Why is that?
When I was walking on a flat surface, I was doing fine. Just, you know, right foot in front of the left, and I’m in good enough shape that I can walk on a flat surface for a pretty long time without panting and, you know, my blood rate getting too high.
But going up that hill, why? Because gravity. When I’m going up that hill, gravity is just going, get back here. Come back here. I’m pulling you back to Earth.
I tell little kids all the time, I say, how high can you jump?
And they’re all so proud of themselves. Watch, I’m jumping. Why can’t they jump 10 ft? Because gravity. Gravity is always pulling us back.
And so there’s this law that seems to be unbreakable, unbeatable. It’s gravity. You can’t defy gravity. It glues you to the Earth.
Until human beings, in their creative image and likeness of God, looked at birth and said, that looks fun. That looks great. I wonder if we could ever fly. And so they tried to figure it out. And lo and behold, just a century or so ago, we figured out how to fly.
And it has to do with lift and thrust and the shape of the wing. And you can tell me if I get this right, Steven, but it’s something about, you know, the wing is shaped in such a way that there’s the air goes over the top, and it creates a vacuum with no pressure.
And there’s all this pressure under, and you get something called lift. But to get that lift, you need speed, which is called thrust.
And when you have the right amount of thrust and the right amount of lift, all of a sudden there’s a new law. The law of the Spirit, not the law of sin. And what does the law of the Spirit do? You fly a jet, you go zoom through the air. How do people do that? How do they defeat the law of gravity? We found out there’s a bigger law, better law, another law. That’s what Jesus is. That’s what the Holy Spirit is. All right?
He is the lift that gets us from the law of sin and death. And going to church is the thrust, baby. You need the encouragement. You need the get going, get going. You know, nobody ever went off that carrier going three miles an hour. That’s just as a quick way to go into the ocean. All right?
The law of gravity wins unless you apply the law of the law of thrust and lift. That’s all I know. I was right, though, right? In general terms, yeah. All right, all right, Brian. I do my engineering right there.
Okay, good. Got a bunch of smart people in this room. I don’t want to mess up. All right? All that to say what I’ve said a hundred times. And I’m going to say it again, and I’m going to finish. You cannot lose if you do not quit. And actually, the fact that you struggle is good news, because the only way not to struggle is to simply succumb to the sinful nature. The only way not to struggle is simply to succumb to the sinful nature.
This is the human condition for those who have changed their mind and repented. You entered a war. Both a war for the souls of men and women out there, but you also entered an internal war where God is now retraining you and preparing you for that glorified eternity.
And the truth is, as you walk in him, as you walk in the Spirit, you do get better. All right. It’s kind of like we’re kind of like that movie It’s a Wonderful Life. We think, oh, my gosh, I call myself a Christian. I’m not a Christian.
I keep doing this. You don’t have the opportunity of seeing what your life would be like had you never repented and changed. My guess is we’ll see a lot more good that Jesus did through us.
You know, we’re going through this book, Imagine Heaven. We’re all kind of squirming because there’s a life review. We all go to heaven. That Jesus is going to give us a life review, and all going, ooh, that’s not going to be comfortable. I don’t want that life review. But I got a feeling for a lot of us.
And the good thing is that those things people say are bathed in forgiveness. And there’s no shame. I don’t see how, but there’s no shame. Maybe because we’re out of that body, but I got a feeling that there’s going to be things in there where we didn’t even know that the Holy Spirit was working in us and the kindness of God was flowing through us.
And we gave a cup of water, a cup of cold water in Jesus’ Name, and it changed somebody’s life.
There may be some things in your life review where you hear this instead of the devil saying, shame on you, which is what we’re all afraid of. Maybe you’ll hear this.
Dear ones, well done, Isaiah. Good and faithful servant. Well done, Karen. Good and faithful servant. Well done, Brian. Well done, Aiko. Well done, Atz. Well done, Stevin. I might even hear, well done, Kevin. It could happen. It could happen.
You cannot lose if you do not quit. Having said that, I now will quit till next week.
And next week I may ask you, as we enter into Romans 8, what are the three things Paul talks about in Romans 8 that set us free from this wretched condition we’re in, and we’ll see if you remember. Good for you.
Well, that actually. That is true. That actually helps you remember when you write something down. So. See, one of the things we like about you, Karen, is you’re a very conscientious Christian. You don’t take these things. What’s that? You don’t take. You don’t. You don’t know. you, like, take this for reals? Yeah.
Yeah, you take it for reals. I just so love that about you. Not that other Christians don’t, but it shows in you. So just a preemptive from Jesus to you, Karen. Well done. Well done.
All right, all right. So one of the things. One of the things that gives us some thrust and lift is attending not out of the law, because then we kill the means of grace, but out of joy and thanksgiving.
Attending the means of grace and meeting Jesus at his table helps give us that lift and thrust to live our lives in this world in such a way that we reflect him well and experience him deeper. So I invite you to come and receive the Lord’s Supper tonight. Or actually, he invites you to come and receive this supper tonight.
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